Paying for home care in England comes down to four routes, and most families end up using more than one. This guide sets out each in plain English — who qualifies, what it’s worth, and how to apply — with the West Sussex specifics you won’t find on national sites.
Start here if you’re short of time: claim Attendance Allowance. It isn’t means-tested, it doesn’t care what you own, it’s worth up to £5,959 a year, and roughly a million eligible people never claim it.
Who pays for home care in England?
There is no single system. Four funding routes run in parallel:
| Route | Means-tested? | Typically worth |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance Allowance (and PIP under 66) | No | £76.70 or £114.60 a week |
| Local authority funding (West Sussex CC) | Yes | Part or all of care costs |
| NHS Continuing Healthcare | No | 100% of care costs |
| Self-funding | n/a | You pay in full |
These aren’t mutually exclusive. You can receive Attendance Allowance while self-funding. You can take a council personal budget and top it up privately. Checking all four is worth a few hours of anyone’s time.
Attendance Allowance: eligibility and how to claim
Attendance Allowance is a tax-free weekly benefit for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care or supervision because of a physical or mental health condition.
What it pays (2026/27)
- Lower rate — £76.70 a week. You need help during the day or during the night.
- Higher rate — £114.60 a week. You need help day and night, or you’re nearing the end of life.
The four things people get wrong
- It is not means-tested. Savings, pensions, property and income are all irrelevant. A self-funder with a paid-off house in Goring qualifies on exactly the same terms as someone on Pension Credit.
- Eligibility is based on the help you need, not the help you receive. If nobody currently helps you wash but you struggle to do it safely, you still qualify. This is the single most common reason for wrongly self-rejecting.
- You don’t have to spend it on care. It’s paid to the person, not the provider.
- It can passport you to more. Claiming can increase Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, and may trigger a Council Tax reduction.
How to claim
Request form AA1 from the Attendance Allowance helpline or download it from gov.uk. It runs to over 30 pages and asks the same thing repeatedly in different ways. Two pieces of advice from care managers who see hundreds of these:
- Describe your worst day, not your best. The form is assessing what you need across the whole week, and people habitually understate.
- Get help filling it in. Age UK West Sussex, Citizens Advice and Carers Support West Sussex all do this free, and their completion rates are noticeably better than DIY.
Payment is usually backdated to the date of your claim, so call to register your claim date before you start writing.
Under 66? You’d claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) instead — same principle, different form, with mobility and daily living components.
NHS Continuing Healthcare explained
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package fully funded by the NHS for adults with a primary health need — meaning their need for care is mainly driven by health rather than social factors. It’s not means-tested and it covers care in your own home as well as in a nursing home.
It is also the most valuable and most frequently missed route in the system. A person with advanced dementia, motor neurone disease, complex neurological needs or rapidly deteriorating health may be entitled to have everything paid for.
How assessment works
- Checklist. A quick screening tool completed by a nurse, GP, social worker or discharge team. You can ask for one — ask the GP, the hospital discharge coordinator, or the community nursing team.
- Full assessment. If the checklist is positive, a multidisciplinary team scores 12 “care domains” (breathing, nutrition, continence, skin, mobility, communication, psychological needs, cognition, behaviour, drug therapies, altered consciousness, and other). Each is rated from no needs to priority.
- Decision. The Sussex Integrated Care Board decides. Broadly, one “priority” score, or two or more “severe” scores, usually indicates eligibility — though it’s the overall picture of nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability that counts.
Fast Track
If someone has a rapidly deteriorating condition and may be entering the last weeks of life, a clinician can complete a Fast Track Pathway Tool. This should produce funding within 48 hours, bypassing the full assessment. Any clinician involved in their care can initiate it — and many families only discover this exists after the window has closed. If you’re being told palliative care at home is unaffordable, ask about Fast Track explicitly.
If you’re turned down
Refusal is common and appeal success rates are meaningful. You have six months to request a local resolution review with the ICB, and can escalate to NHS England’s independent review panel. Beacon offers free independent CHC advice, and Age UK’s factsheet on CHC is thorough.
Local authority funding and the means test
Step 1: the care needs assessment (free, and a legal right)
Under the Care Act 2014, West Sussex County Council must assess anyone who appears to need care and support — regardless of income or savings. Never let anyone skip this because they assume you can afford to pay; the assessment determines need, and even self-funders benefit from having eligible needs formally recorded. See how to request an assessment.
Step 2: the financial assessment
If you have eligible needs, the council then assesses what you can afford. England’s capital thresholds for 2026/27:
| Capital | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Above £23,250 | You self-fund in full |
| £14,250–£23,250 | Council contributes. You pay “tariff income” of £1 a week per £250 above £14,250, plus an assessed contribution from income |
| Below £14,250 | Capital ignored entirely; only income is assessed |
These limits have been frozen since 2010. Had they tracked inflation, the upper limit would sit near £36,400 today — which is why more families self-fund each year.
The rule that changes everything: your home is disregarded
For care delivered in your own home, the value of your property is not counted in the means test. Only savings, investments and other capital count towards the thresholds.
This is the sharpest practical difference between home care and residential care funding, and it reshapes the decision for a great many families. Someone with a £450,000 house in Shoreham and £18,000 in savings is a self-funder in a care home but qualifies for council support at home. If you’re weighing the two options, read home care vs care home with this in mind.
Income disregards worth knowing
- Minimum Income Guarantee. The council must leave you with a set weekly minimum after charges — more generous for home care than the care home Personal Expenses Allowance of £31.80.
- Housing costs. Rent, mortgage interest and some service charges are deducted from income before your contribution is calculated.
- Disability-related expenditure (DRE). Extra costs caused by disability — specialist laundry, extra heating, incontinence products, chiropody, community alarm, special diet — can be deducted. Councils apply a standard allowance by default; itemise your actual costs and ask for them to be assessed individually. This routinely saves families £20–£60 a week and is very widely overlooked.
- Pension sharing. If married or in a civil partnership, 50% of occupational or personal pension income can be disregarded.
Self-funding and direct payments
If you’re above the threshold, you arrange and pay for care yourself. Two things to do anyway:
- Still get the needs assessment. It’s free, it documents your needs, and it means the council must step in when your capital eventually falls below £23,250. Ask about the council’s duty to arrange care on your behalf if you want it.
- Still claim Attendance Allowance. It reduces a self-funder’s net outlay by up to £5,959 a year.
Direct payments
If the council agrees to fund care, you can take the money as cash — a direct payment — and choose your own provider rather than accepting whoever the council has commissioned. Most families who do this report better continuity of carers. You can usually top a direct payment up with your own money to buy more hours or a preferred provider.
Other support to check
- Carer’s Allowance — £86.45 a week (2026/27) for someone providing 35+ hours of care a week and earning under the threshold
- Pension Credit — tops weekly income up and unlocks other help
- Council Tax — the severe mental impairment disregard can remove one person from the count entirely and is often backdated; badly under-claimed in dementia households
- Disabled Facilities Grant — via Adur & Worthing Councils, towards ramps, stairlifts and level-access showers
- VAT relief — zero-rating on disability equipment and certain adaptations
- Winter Fuel Payment, Warm Home Discount, and charitable grants — including condition-specific funds from Parkinson’s UK, the MS Society and the MND Association
Getting started in West Sussex
- Register an Attendance Allowance claim by phone today (it backdates to this call).
- Request a care needs assessment from West Sussex County Council adult social care.
- Ask the GP or discharge team for an NHS CHC checklist if health needs are substantial.
- Book free benefits advice with Age UK West Sussex or Citizens Advice.
- Get a written care quote so you know the actual number you’re funding against.
Find care near you
Tell us your postcode and what you need help with. We pass your details to one vetted CQC-registered agency in your area — you are told who they are, and that they pay us a fee, before anything is sent.
Frequently asked questions
What is the savings threshold for council-funded care?
In England for 2026/27, capital above £23,250 means you self-fund. Between £14,250 and £23,250 you make a partial contribution, calculated as £1 a week for every £250 above the lower limit plus an assessed amount from income. Below £14,250 your capital is disregarded entirely.
Is Attendance Allowance means-tested?
No. It’s assessed purely on the help you need because of a physical or mental health condition. Income, savings and property are irrelevant, and it’s tax-free. It pays £76.70 or £114.60 a week in 2026/27.
How do I apply for NHS Continuing Healthcare?
Ask a health professional involved in the person’s care — the GP, community nurse or hospital discharge team — to complete a CHC checklist. A positive checklist triggers a full multidisciplinary assessment against 12 care domains, with the decision made by the Sussex Integrated Care Board. If the person is rapidly deteriorating, ask specifically about the Fast Track Pathway, which can produce funding within 48 hours.
Does my house count when the council assesses me for home care?
No. For care in your own home the property’s value is excluded. It is normally counted for permanent residential care, which is why the two situations produce very different results for the same person.
Can I pay privately for extra hours on top of council-funded care?
Yes. Many families use a personal budget or direct payment for assessed needs and buy additional hours privately — a second daily visit, weekend companionship, or overnight cover.
Can I use a direct payment to pay a family member?
Usually not for someone living in the same household, though councils have discretion in exceptional circumstances. Family members living elsewhere can sometimes be paid. Check with West Sussex County Council before committing.
The Care Panel is an independent publication. We are not a care provider and are not regulated by the Care Quality Commission, because we do not deliver care. Always check a provider’s own CQC registration and inspection report before you commit.
Written and fact-checked by The Care Panel. Figures current for 2026/27 from DWP benefit rates, the Department of Health and Social Care charging circular and gov.uk. Reviewed each April. General information, not financial advice — for personalised advice contact Age UK, Citizens Advice or an independent financial adviser accredited in later-life advice.